10 Unanswered Questions in The Force Awakens

Star Wars: The Force Awakens gave us so much but also asked more questions than it answered. Here are 10 unanswered questions in The Force Awakens.

Note: This post contains major spoilers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

The movie we’ve all been waiting for is finally here! We can all visit the theater and satisfy all of the burning questions we’ve ever had about the future of these characters right? …Right? Well, not so much. The film, as good as it was, only answered a few questions about the future of the classic characters, as well as the nature of the new characters. In fact, the film seems to ask more questions than it answers. Naturally, many of these questions will be answered in the many books, comics, etc. that we can expect soon, not to mention the two remaining films in the trilogy. But for now, here are 10 unanswered questions in The Force Awakens that we’d like to know more about.

10) What has Luke been doing this whole time?

It’s been 30 years since Luke Skywalker redeemed his father on the second Death Star. What has he been doing this whole time? We know he tried to set up a new Jedi order, which ran south when Kylo Ren slaughtered them all. But we don’t even know when this happened. And we don’t know how long he’s been in seclusion.

We also don’t know what he’s doing on this particular planet. Has he just been meditating, or is there some larger purpose? Perhaps he went to communicate with ancient Jedi, or to find some ancient artifact. Or perhaps he just needed some “me” time.

9) How did Maz Kanata Acquire Luke’s Lightsaber

Anakin’s lightsaber was passed down to Luke via Obi-Wan Kenobi. But Luke eventually lost the lightsaber as it was held in the hand that Darth Vader severed on Cloud City. We can only assume that it fell down the incredibly long shaft. But it must have been recovered since Maz Kanata has possession of it in The Force Awakens. When asked how she got it, she responds with, “A good question, for another time.”

I expect that time will come soon, possibly through a canonical book or comic explaining the story of Luke’s lightsaber. But for now, we can only speculate.

8) Who is Supreme Leader Snoke?

Snoke’s appearance was brief (though meaningful) in The Force Awakens. Some of General Leia’s dialogue suggests that they know who Snoke is, and what role he had in turning Kylo Ren to the dark side. However, we don’t know almost anything about him. We don’t even know how tall he is, since he is presented as a giant hologram in the film. What is his agenda? Can he use the Force? Why is he in charge of the First Order? So many questions, so few answers.

7) What is This About the First Jedi Temple?

In the film, Han Solo mentions that Luke may have gone searching for the first Jedi Temple. While we don’t know for sure, we can probably assume that his home that we see at the end of the film is this first Jedi Temple, filmed on the lovely island of Skellig Michael, Ireland.

There’s a possibility this planet is actually Rakata Prime, but we have no official word on the significance of this planet. If this is the first Jedi Temple, why would Luke go there? Are there some lost Jedi secrets to be found? Also, can we find out more about the origin of this first Jedi Temple, please and thank you.

6) Who is Max Von Sydow’s Character, and What is His History?

Thanks to the official guide to the film, Max Von Sydow plays a character named Lor San Tekka. We know a little about him, including the fact that he was a leader of the Church of the Force, an underground faith surrounding the ideals of the Jedi. So while he isn’t Force sensitive himself, he admires the Jedi, and he also appears to be personally familiar with Leia and Luke.

Also, it can’t be a coincidence that the character who just happens to have Luke’s location also just happens to live near our main hero, Rey. We know Rey was abandoned on Jakku, though we don’t know why. Perhaps Lor San Tekka was placed there to watch over her, a-la-Obi-Wan Kenobi for Luke.

5) How did the First Order Originate? What Is Their Motivation?

Apart from the fact that the First Order originated from the “ashes of the Empire” we know next to nothing about the organization. We know they probably don’t have complete political power like the Empire did, but are more of a splinter group with more power than the rest of the galaxy realizes. How did they get started? Where did they get all of those resources to build Starkiller Base?

4) What is Hosnian Prime?

Despite what it may have looked like, that was not Coruscant that Starkiller Base destroyed in the film. Instead, it was Hosnian Prime, and New Republic world with some influence. From pieces of dialogue in the film, it sounds like the planet housed much of the New Republic’s fleet. So the New Republic may have been crippled with its destruction, but we honestly don’t know how this impacted the New Republic. What about Coruscant? Is that planet no longer the center of political power in the galaxy? Why should we care about Hosnian Prime?

3) What is the Relationship Between the New Republic and the Resistance?

If you pay careful attention to the opening crawl and some dialogue throughout the film, you might learn the answer to this question. It would seem that the Resistance is a small, privately-funded organization to combat the First Order inside First Order controlled space.

We learn in the book Aftermath that the New Republic planned to disband most of its army following its victory over the Empire. So we can assume that the military might of the New Republic is not what it once was. So to combat the rising threat of the First Order, they secretly funded the Resistance. But we don’t know much more than that. In fact, we know next to nothing about the political climate within the galaxy at large, since the events of The Force Awakens remained rather isolated.

1) Who Are Rey’s Parents?

Of course, the big burning question is who are Rey’s parents. Rey’s vision suggests that her abandonment on Jakku is linked to the slaughter of Luke’s apprentices at the hands of Kylo Ren. But these events could only be thematically linked. We don’t know for sure if they happened at the same time.

Most theories point to Luke as Rey’s father, especially given Maz’s dialogue “That lightsaber was Luke’s, and his father’s before him, and now it calls to you.” This hints at a familial relationship between the two, though you could potentially get away with Rey being the surrogate daughter of Luke. But then why would she be stronger in the Force than Kylo Ren (another of the Skywalker line), if she is not also a Skywalker herself? These questions will hopefully be answered in the next film.